Semiconductor memory devices, including flash memory, typically utilize memory cells to store data as an electrical value, such as an electrical charge or voltage. A flash memory cell, for example, includes a single transistor with a floating gate that is used to store a charge representative of a data value. Flash memory is a non-volatile data storage device that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. More generally, non-volatile memory (e.g., flash memory, as well as other types of non-volatile memory implemented using any of a variety of technologies) retains stored information even without power, as opposed to volatile memory, which requires power to maintain the stored information.
Executing a write operation at a first portion (e.g., a first word line within an erase block) of a semiconductor memory device (e.g., flash memory device) can impact the charge stored in a second, neighboring portion (e.g., a second word line within the erase block) of the semiconductor memory device. As a result, write operations are configured to take into account the effects of subsequent write operations in neighboring portions. However, in an open block, after writing data to the first portion (sometimes herein called a boundary region), data has not been written to the second, neighboring portion, and therefore the first portion tends to have worse data reliability compared with closed blocks.